Southern Africa: Weekly Report (31 December 2013 to 6 January 2014)

Madagascar:
An Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ICTZ) has developed in the Mozambique Channel, which is moving towards the west coast of Madgascar's Melaky region. According to various forecasts (National Meteorological Department and WFP Emergency System), the system, which is unlikely to be a strong storm, is expected to move slowly and bring heavy rains from 4 to 8 January across most of central Madagascar.

The Transitional Independent Electoral Commission (CENIT) has officially announced the preliminary results of the second round of presidential elections on 3 January 2014. Hery Rajaonarimampianina received 53.4% of votes and Dr Robinson 46.6%. The results were based on 19,978 out of 20,001 polling stations, as 23 polling stations reportedly did not send their results. Most of these were in the south, where the local population was busy chasing the "dahalo", or were not aware that the polling stations were open due to the "dahalo" insecurity. On 4 January, Dr. Robinson and his team disagreed and announced that they would get 52.87% of votes and Hery Rajaonarimampianina 47.13%, based on their own record from 19,020 out of 20,001 polling stations. The final results of the presidential election from the Special Electoral Court (CES) will be released by 17 January 2014.

Malawi:
A number of districts reported damage to houses as a result of strong winds accompanying the first rains. A total of 2,355 households (11,775 People) were reportedly affected in 9 districts, including some collapsed houses and roofs blown off. The Department of Disaster Management Affairs (DoDMA) has reported that they are able to meet the needs of the affected population.

Mauritius:
There were reports of mini tornados in a few regions on 2 January, which damaged houses, private properties and uprooted trees. At least 19 houses were partially damaged, 1 person injured and 46 people were in emergency shelters, but have since returned home.

Swaziland:
The country continues to receive heavy rains. The water courses are filling, causing localised flooding/flash floods, particularly in urban areas, such as Mbabane where 21 shops were reportedly flooded due to poor drainage. No deaths due to flooding have been reported to date